One year has passed since the demise of Mr. Vincent
Wimaladharma Kularatne - a senior and leading lawyer, constitutional expert,
legislator, educationist, and exemplary politician who engaged in politics
on principles, a versatile speaker and writer and last not the least a
patriotic who loved his motherland more than anything.

Late Mr. Kularatne was very much involved in the Education
field of Sri Lanka and relentlessly fought for the rights of rural students.
He was a member of the Board of Regents of Vidyalankara University and in
1974 was a member of the Royal Commission appointed by H.E. President
William Gopallawa to inquire into the affairs of the Peradeniya University.
But the most controversial and historical involvement was the one-man
Vidyalankara Ragging Commission.

The report was a bombshell whereby 12 students were expelled
and 3 others were suspended and most importantly four officials were
penalised for not taking action to prevent the ragging for the first time in
the history.

The newspapers were screaming with headlines and the
Observer poster read "SEX ORGIES IN CAMPUS". The Minister of Education
stated in Parliament that the Universities Act will be radically modified
considering the far reaching recommendations of Kularatne Commission.
Unfortunately it was not fully implemented otherwise we would have not heard
about cruel ragging incidents which took place in universities later on and
existing still.

In the education field he worked very closely with Dr.
Premadasa Udagama, Mr. Bogoda Premaratne, Prof. Stanely Kalpage etc.

Mr. Kularatne was attracted by the policies of late Mr. S.
W. R. D. Bandaranaike, and entered active politics when the late Mr. T. B.
Ilangaratne contested the Kandy electorate. Very soon he became an integral
part of the SLFP and by the time late Mrs. Bandaranaike become the Prime
Minister he was one of the advisors. He became the President of the SLFP
Lawyers’ Association and the Senior Vice President of the SLFP. Late Mrs.
Bandaranaike has so much faith in him that she would not release any
statement to the media without Mr. Kularatne’s approval and all statements
were prepared at Mr. Kularatne’s office.

When the Group of 13 led by Maithripala Senanayaka and Anura
Bandaranaike broke away from the SLFP and with the assistance of J.R. sealed
the party head office and were thriving to gain the ‘hand’ symbol and
boasting to be the official SLFP, Mr. Kularatne along with late Hector
Kobbekaduwa, T. B. Ilangaratne and Vijaya Kumaranatunge fearlessly stood by
Mrs. Bandaranaike and won the legal battle.

During the post 1977 period when the UNP led government’s
horror and terror was unleashed in full force against the opposition Mr.
Kularatne fearlessly and leaving his own life at stake took upon the
challenge of being the Chief Organiser of Kelaniya (dominated mainly by
Cyril Mathew) and also led many election battles including the Katana and
Mahara elections where late Vijaya Kumaranatunge was the unfortunate
candidate on both occasions.

The Katana Election was won by the UNP purely on thuggery
and the Mahara Election just because of the Presidential immune which J.R
used fully to defeat his opponents time and again.

When late Hector Kobbekaduwa contested the Presidential
election once again there were certain elements within the party sabotaging
the election campaign and funds were not forthcoming. Mr. Kularatne along
with Vijaya Kumaranatunge utilising their own funds led the campaign even
visiting Jaffna where Kobbekaduwa obtained a massive voting leaving J.R.
behind him despite an eminent Tamil politician contesting the election.

It was one instance in the recent history where the Tamils
of the North showed their faith and confidence in a politician from the
South.

Throughout his political career he never gained anything
from the party but always spent his own money for the party and being a fine
orator with an unwavering memory Mr. Kularatne was one of the main speakers
in both SLFP and SLMP platforms.

He was associated with late Mr. Hector Kobbekaduwa in
formulating the Land Reform Law which is hailed as the most progressive
piece of legislation introduced so far in the history of Sri Lanka.

`95 Vice President of Sinhala Tharuna Sanvidhanaya

`95 Member of the Penal of Lawyers of Sri Lanka Insurance
Corporation

`95 Chairman of many Committees appointed to look into the
affairs of Business Establishment taken over under the Business Acquisition
Act.

`95 Vice President of Soviet Sri Lanka Friendship League and
President of the Soviet Sri Lanka Lawyers’ Friendship League.

Apart from the above activities he had an interest and has
very close relationship with renowned authors and writers such as late
Gunadasa Liyanage, late Karunasena Jayalath, late Sugathapala de Silva
(being a school mate) Gunadasa Amarasekera, Kumaradasa Jayasekera and many
others.

Mr. Kularatne wrote many articles to the newspapers on many
subjects including University Education, Constitutional crisis etc., which
are worth preserving and would be of immense importance to anyone who is
interested in those subjects.